SAARELA, Darin Andrew

Darin Saarela, beloved husband of Sarah Saarela of Irricana, AB, passed away on Friday, October 4, 2013 at the age of 39 years.

Darin spent most of his childhood in Manitou, MB. Following high school, he attended Assiniboine College in Brandon, MB, graduating with his diploma in Media Arts. He later became a cameraman with CKX in Brandon, then in Winnipeg with MTN, prior to moving to Calgary where he was with A Channel. For the past thirteen years, Darin was an ENG Camera/Editor with CTV in Calgary.

Sarah and family. I heard thru a co-worker in the media of the tragic loss of Darin. I was a cameraman with him in Brandon in 1994. He always had a smile and an infectious laugh that I will always remember. He was always so great to be around and work with. I moved home to Edmonton to work for CTV and was happily surprised years later to run into Darin in Calgary at various news events. I will think of you when I hug my 3 and 6 year old sons and how much your family will miss such a wonderful man and friend. My thoughts are with you and offer another reminder of how great your dad and husband was and how much he was admired and respected.
David.

To Sarah & all the wonderful family of Darin, he was such an awesome awesome person, he will be greatly missed.
We had the fortune to have him spend a lot of time here with our boys & a bunch others, & we have some very wonderful memories, of a wonderful friend.
Take care Sarah, & kids our heart breaks for you.
Jim & Judy Webber

Please accept our heartfelt condolences for Darin’s passing. We worked with Darin on many occasions, generally at the scene of another’s misfortune. He was always professional and courteous and made our job easy for it. We will miss working with him. We send our thoughts and prayers to each of you and hope you find strength and support among your loving family.

Dear Sarah, Shae, Ryley, Aspen and Wendy,
Aunt Barb and I send our heartfelt sympathies to all of you.
Although we never met Darin in person, we got to know him through all the good words spoken of him from those who knew him well. We share in the grief of your loss.
And although we can’t be with you personally, please know that you are ever present in our thoughts and in our prayers.
May the Lord give you the comfort and strength needed both now and in the days that lie ahead.
With lots of hugs.
Love,
Uncle Bill and Aunt Barb

Sarah….
You and your family are in our thoughts…. I hope knowing how much Darin was loved will be of some comfort…. He touched many lives and will be missed dearly by so many. We will always remember Darin.

I worked with Darren day in and day out when he was the arts/entertainment videographer on “Live On Lombard” at MTN in Winnipeg. He had such a wonderful creative eye, always gave it his everything, and was just so lovely to work with. In fact, every shoot we went on, everybody loved “Fabio”. He was one of the kindest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of getting to know and working with.

Dear Sarah and Family,
Aunt Barb and I send our heartfelt sympathies to everyone. Although we never got to know Darin in person, we did to get to know him through all the good words spoken of him by those who knew him well. We share with you in your sorrow. Please know that you are ever in our thoughts and prayers.
Lots of hugs.
Love,
Uncle Bill and Aunt Barb

Dear Sarah, Shae, Ryley, Aspen & Saarela family
The angels are crying at our house today for the loss of your wonderful husband,dad & son. No words can adequately express the sadness we feel for your loss. We only met Darin once, but instantly saw him as a kind, loving & caring person. We were all so happy for you, Sarah. You were blessed to have found each other. Although you had only a short time together, the memories you have built will keep Darin with you forever. He will still be your inspiration, watching over you from up above. May God, family & friends provide you with love,support & strength through this difficult time and through your continuing journey in this life
Love Aunt Brenda, Uncle Dennis, Josh & Chels

With these heartfelt messages, may Darin’s family take just a tiny bit of comfort knowing how loved and appreciated he was by everyone he touched. I was fortunate to be with him on a wild weekend on Broadway in New York for a Lion King promotion. Something I will always remember. Darin’s memory will be with us. Always.

I met Darin at CKX in Brandon We lived together for the first time in our adult lives as roomates . It was short lived as Darin was off to Winnipeg. On behalf of the broadcasters in Manitoba he impacted by his spirit and excellence in work and life our condolences on your loss. RIP Darin

Very sad news. To Walter, Pat,Sarah, Jeff, Grant and families we would like to pass on our condolences to all of you. Let the memories and family be your strength. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

I’m so very sorry for your loss. I loved working with Darin. He was a true pro and his easy going personality made our shoots a real pleasure. Our last story together was in K country @ the Homestead Range. We were doing a story about the hand gun provincials and were given the opportunity to test our skills. Darin took 5 shots and hit all 5 targets in succession which pleased him greatly! We had a really nice morning on a beautiful sunny spring day in the foothills and I sensed his quiet strength as he dealt with his diagnosis…how truly brave he was! I will always remember that day with Darin and every other shoot we did because when you worked with him you knew you were getting GOLD. God Bless. Sincerely, Lisa Bowes

You may never fully realize what a positive effect Darin had on those around him. He was a pleasure to work with, and was the perfect blend of professionalism, humanity, and compassion. He was the quintessential hard workin’ family man who made everybody smile. I consider myself privileged to have at one time called him a colleague, and to have always called him a friend. One of a kind doesn’t begin to describe him. Peace to you all at this time; there are many, many others who share in your loss.

I’m so sorry to hear the sad news about Darin. He was Kevin’s best friend for so many years, and always a welcome visitor at our home. He would play lego with Jen and Kim if Kevin had chores to do. He always had a smile, and a quiet way. We all loved him. Our sincerest condolences from our whole family,
Linda, Kevin, Kimberley and Jennifer Adair

I am so sorry Darin is gone. I knew him since 1996 when I worked with him at MTN. He was a great guy who had a great wit and laugh. He was a true professional at his job, but still kept things light hearted. Back then he was known as Fab because of his long hair, but that name really suited him for a 1000 reasons. He was really a fabulous guy and he will be really missed. I am sorry for your loss and my thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.

Dear Pat and Walter, I am so sorry to hear that your son has passed. Our deepest condolences are with you at this terrible time. We only found out from Margaret, not her fault it went into my junk folder and I was deleting. Words don’t have much meaning at this time but you all will be in our prayers. Our children should not leave before us. I feel terrible for not knowing sooner. Just reading the comments he must have been a loving young man. Our prayers are with you.
Millie Garbaz

I was fortunate to be able to call Darin (Fab) my friend. We were housemates for a few years and also shared a trip to Cancun that I’m sure the locals are still talking about today. I only hope that the memory of his goofy smile, his roar of a laugh and the fact that so many were touched by his spirit are some comfort to you through this time. I consider myself lucky he decided to share some of his time on this planet with me.

Dear Sarah, Shae, Ryley and Aspen.
I know words aren’t much comfort right now, but someday you will read these again, and see countless messages about how much Darin meant to so many of us. Darin and I worked together for nearly 13 years. I loved going on shoots with Darin, because he was easy to work with, easy to talk to, always got THE BEST shots and never took himself, or the job too seriously. I also loved it, because of the little things that made Darin who he was. I remember being out dozens of times gathering news together, whenever his phone would ring, the ringtone was the laughter of one of his beloved babies. Darin was never boastful, but if you just asked “got any new pics of the kids” he was all too proud to share the latest greatest photos of the kids and beautiful bride.
Ryley, Shae and Aspen he always had you with him, even at work. Photos of you, pictures you had drawn, even your beautiful laughter was with him, when he was away from you. I hope memories of a loving dad, will be of some comfort when you are feeling low. Sarah, your family is in my family’s thoughts each and everyday. We are all lucky to have had Darin in our lives.

You know when I saw the picture of Darin holding his camera in that familiar way with a hint of the beginning of his infectious smile memories of all those times we worked together came back, playing like one of the many news stories we shot and edited together. I didn’t want to believe the news friends told me about Darin but when I saw the picture and the brief write up in black and white a deep saddness came over me and I have tears in my eyes. Tears for Darin and for his loving wife and young family who will not have the opportunity to laugh with him and love him for all the years people believe they have ahead of them. As one friend so correctly pointed out…none of us know how long we are going to be here, so we must hold each other close, love family and friendships and work with the same integrity Darin poured into his job. Thanks for all those hours we worked together Darin. Thanks for putting up with me and Thanks for the laughter…I remember some days all we could do was laugh until it hurt…It feels like I am laughing now…I will always remember you… – Sincerely and in Deepest Sympathy, with and for the family – Bill McFarlane

With Deepest Sympathy to all of Darin’s Family. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you. He will always be remembered as a kind young man. May his memory live on in his children. Sincerely Lesley and family

I am so sorry for your loss. I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed bumping into Darin through the years on assignments. Without fail as we all stood around waiting for scrums to begin, Darin was always quick with a smile and a laugh. I enjoyed his fun sense of humour and his professionalism. A true gem. He will be missed.

My deepest sympathies to the Saarela family and Darin’s wife and children. My family and the Saarela family were friends in Manitou and our children were close friends also.
It is always a tragedy and a very difficult time when a child is taken so young.
My heart and thoughts as well as my family’s are with you in you time of grief.
Fred Adair

Dear Sarah, Shae, Ryley and Aspen, you are in our prayers and thank you for sharing Darin with us through his work with the ECS. He had a kind and respectful manner dealing with people, those are the memories that we will remember.

My thoughts are with the Saarela families. I had the honor to have Darin as a friend for most of my life. The basement in the Saarela house holds many good memories for me. See you on the other side bud.

Sarah, Walter, Pat, Jeff & Grant
My thoughts and prayers are with you and your families during this difficult time. Even though Darin was much older than us is school is quiet confident way did not make any of us younger kids in school feel any less. He was great about making us a part of any projects we were all working on at the time! God bless and may your memories bring you many smiles and even a few laughs.

I’ll always look back on Darin as a good friend, a great photographer/videographer and a guy that wanted to make sure that he strived for excellence in everything he did. He always measured his words carefully, and he always meant what he said and when he became a friend he was a friend for the long haul.
My deepest sympathies to you all for your loss.

We were shocked and deeply saddened last evening when we learned of Darin’s death.
Our sincere condolences to Pat, Walter, Jeff, Grant and families. Our deepest sympathy is extended to Sarah and the children as they deal with this tragic loss.

My sincere condolences on your loss. I remember Darin for his good nature & his dedication to his craft, while we worked together at CKX.
I lost my mom to cancer in August, so I share a feeling of loss.
Please take assurance in the thought that Darin & all of us who worked in news feel we work in a field that matters to people.
Take Care!
Ray Smith, Brandon Manitoba

I was shocked and saddened to hear of Darins passing, I didn’t know him well, but grew up in the same area as him, and went to the same school together. He was a kind man with a warm smile that touched many. My deepest sympathies to you Sarah, your children, and the Saarela family back home.

Dear Sara, Shae, Ryley & Aspen,
Our sincere sympathy to you and your family at this sad time. Our communities of Irricana & Kathyrn benefitted greatly from Darin’s passion and generousity. He will be missed by us all.
“Have hope in tomorrow, faith in everlasting and take comfort in the love of friends and family”
Kind regards,
Glen & Janice Culp
Irricana, AB